A visitor to Minsk might conclude from its calm appearance that the human rights situation had changed. But beneath the surface, the invisible threat of surveillance keeps civil society in check.

Human rights should be considered proportionally in any governmental policy related to the Internet, in a way which will hopefully spur the private sector to follow.

The Internet organisation ICANN’s charismatic CEO, Fadi Chehade has moved on. Did he achieve what he set out to do? Was it what we needed him to do? And what about human rights?

Post-ACTA, decision-making has been adapted to avoid decision-moments. Of course, individual grassroots campaigns are still hugely valuable. But we need long-term advocacy.

In this wide-ranging interview with human rights lawyer and former Privacy International head of advocacy Carly Nyst, we discuss surveillance politics, radical thinking, and human rights on the internet.

These pieces of research indicate a pattern of behavioural change that dampens dissent and resistance to overbearing power, both of which are hallmarks of an active democratic citizenry.

New methods and spaces are required to grapple with the strange new questions of tomorrow's technology.

What does it mean to be human in digital cultures? How has the ideal image of a life in and for a community, which always constitutes the core of politics, changed?

Technologies developed by the military for use against foreign enemies have a habit of finding their way into the hands of civilian police forces.

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) efforts, the government tells us, "address the root causes of extremism through community engagement". But could this globalising project have counter-productive consequences?

It is both possible and necessary to think politically about the blockchain: delegation, transmutation and complexity.

While the Law and Justice party insists that local disputes are best settled at home, Polish opposition and fearful individuals have been reaching out to international forums for support.

How can we build a visual literacy that strengthens  the movement for human rights on the internet? First, understand what we are involved in when we look.

“One user even said Facebook sent him a notification that his deceased uncle had supported Free Basics and so he should too.” 

India, according to the Facebook Director, would have been better off had it remained under British rule. Coming from an American, it was a bit ironical.

If we want to escape from our situation of powerlessness and anxiety, we must re-examine our relationship to the political, and strive to produce new types of political practice. Français.

The British public will not accept a law that treats the Internet, the greatest modern innovation for cultural, economic and social development, as something that must be hacked, tracked, and mined.